


The Goddamn Sky High AU

by brightloveee



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Sky High, F/M, M/M, TW: Swearing, TW: moderate violence, TW: suicide mention (very brief), you don't really need to be familiar with the original movie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:08:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23661325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brightloveee/pseuds/brightloveee
Summary: Alex started his senior year of Super-Powered high school 5000% over it. There was nothing in this entire world he wanted to do less than go back to Sky High School for Super-Powered Students ever again. Yet here he was.
Relationships: Maria DeLuca/Isabel Evans, Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Comments: 17
Kudos: 53
Collections: Time After Time: A Roswell New Mexico Alternate Era AU Event





	The Goddamn Sky High AU

**Author's Note:**

> Before we begin! Some warnings. This is not your kid brother's PG Disney Superhero story. This is an R-rated Super-powered teenage rom-com.
> 
> TW: Heavy swearing: Like the MOST swearing.  
> Like stretching my swearing abilities to their absolute limit (I grew up in Utah so I don’t have a background in swearing, but I do watch Veep, so those two things cancel out)
> 
> TW: suicide mention. Mostly in sarcastic jest, but still there.
> 
> TW: moderate violence, both super-powered and regular-powered
> 
> Despite that, I hope you'll enjoy the wild, hopefully-funny ride!

Alex started his senior year of Super-Powered high school 5000% fucking over it. There was nothing in this entire fucking world he wanted to do less than go back to shithole Sky High School for Super-Powered Fucktards ever again.

Being in a regular high school would’ve been bad enough. Teenagers suck, but Alex could deal.

Being _Alex_ in high school was even worse. He’d been out since sophomore year, and all these asswipes were shitheads about it. But Alex could get through it.

Being at a high school for Supers, now that was really fucking bad news, considering that Alex didn’t have any of the powers his fucking dickwad classmates did. But it was only four years and he only had one left to go then he was flying this coop so fucking far they’d never see him again. (Figuratively speaking - he could not actually fly, unfortunately.)

Being at a high school for Supers that was founded by his father’s father’s father, in the name of their Super-Powered family? The fucking worst. That meant that everyone felt like they fucking knew everything about him. They all knew he was gay, that his mom actually _did_ fly the fucking coop, that his dad literally _strong-armed him_ into everything, and that he was the only one of his brothers that didn’t get _any_ Super Abilities what-so-fucking-ever.

Long story short, it was enough to make him want to walk off the side of the fucking levitating school, 15 thousand feet above the ground, and find out the hard way whether he could fly.

It didn’t help that one of his best friends had made it into the Hero class, so he never saw her anymore. The Heros didn’t even eat lunch with the Sidekick class, which Alex thought was pretty stupid considering they’d need to be working together throughout their careers. Not that he wanted to hang out with 99% of the Hero class in his entire life. He just wanted to see Liz maybe every once in a fucking blue moon.

For a long time, it had been Liz and Maria and him, thick as thieves. But the school had finally figured out that Liz’s molecular transformation power was actually amazing, and they’d transferred her halfway through last year. Now she was dating that fuckface Valenti, Hero Healer just like his father, and it was down to just him and Maria. Not that he didn’t love Maria, and her power of foresight could be so great, especially before a pop quiz, but it was fucking bullshit that they separated the “Heros” and the “Sidekicks” like that.

Of course, if Alex were anyone else in the world, he’d be at a regular high school. But he was a Manes, part of a great line of famous Heros, and his father claimed to anyone that would listen that it was just too much to risk his youngest son being captured in that unprotected scenario and held for ransom. 

There was, in fact, some sort of shadowy villain that had the entire Super community on high alert, but Alex stopped listening to that cow’s turd of a conversation months ago. Why would he be interested?

Alex knew it was a bullshit pride thing that made his father need to have all his sons at Sky High. The truth was that if someone captured him and held him for ransom, his father would never pay the price even if it was a nickel.

Also, his father loved to come spectate on tournament days, and that’s why he really kept Alex at Sky High. 

“Welcome to the Senior Class Tournament!” Principal Valenti boomed in her mega-sonic voice as they all assembled on the first day of senior year.

(Yeah, in addition to his dad being one-half of the most famous crime-fighting partnership in America – alongside Alex’s own dad – Kyle Valenti’s mom was the principal of the school. The whole thing made Kyle walk around like he had a dick the size of fucking Jupiter, when in fact Alex had seen it when they were in middle school and it was actually slightly smaller than average.)

Tournaments were when the students dueled in the big fight ring to see who was the best powered competitor. Alex still had to compete, even though he had no powers. Which was usually pretty amusing for everyone especially his dad, because it meant that Alex always got his ass beat.

He was, in fact, better at hand-to-hand combat than he liked to let on. Maria had once foreseen that he’d become a great fighter, so he’d been training with her and Liz for the past two years. But there wasn’t any sense in revealing his fighting prowess when all the competitors considered him a complete non-threat and went easy on him. Mostly he used the skill to fight off Valenti’s jizzstained goons in the hallways.

There was a tradition of doing the Senior Class Tournament on the first day of school like they were trying to conduct some kind of scientific study to see improvement over the course of the year. That was a colossal load of bullshit if you asked Alex. They just liked to see the kids, soft and weak after a lazy summer, beat the ever-loving shit out of each other.

“Before we begin, a few announcements!” Principal Valenti’s voice was ear-drum-shatteringly loud.

Alex rolled his eyes so hard they might have popped out of his head, shot across the gymnasium, and smacked Principal Valenti across the face. God, if only he had the power to do that. What a fucking gift that would be.

“First of all,” Principal Valenti continued. “We will be heightening security here on-campus in response to the mysterious threats to our Super community. The Protectors, Jesse Manes and my husband, Jim Valenti, will have an increased presence at Sky High and beyond. We thank them for their protection against this menace.” 

She paused for applause. Maria and Alex exchanged a skeptical look while the rest of the school clapped.

“Next, welcome to our Senior Class! Our traditional tournaments will have some changes this year. For the first time in thirty years, the Heroes and Sidekicks will be integrated in the Tournament competition!”

A group of the Sidekicks cheered loudly from their little corner of the stands, while a groan erupted from most of the Heroes. Loathe as he was to agree with Heroes about anything, he did have to agree with them. He did NOT want to compete in Hero competitions, not even as part of a team. He might literally fucking die up against a Hero-powered asswipe, and a lot of these wannabe shit-for-brains Sidekicks probably would too.

“As such, the Hero classes and Sidekick classes will also be integrated going forward.” An even bigger cheer from the Sidekick side, a huge groan from the Hero side, an eye-roll migraine for Alex.

“Finally, the administration of this school has made the decision to modify the qualifications to graduate Sky High School for Super-Powered Students. By the final tournament, each student must demonstrate complete mastery of their power.”

The entire speech had his dad written all fucking over it. In fact, his dad who was seated on the platform among the school administrators, looked right over directly at Alex while the principal was talking, with that fucking smirk on his face. 

Fuck. Alex’s gut lurched. It meant that Alex wouldn’t get his diploma. He didn’t have any powers to master. It had been sufficient, before, to just get passing grades in all of your classes. So Alex had worked his fucking ass off learning a fuckton of particle theory shit, and the history of telepathy, and the ethics of shapeshifting, and it was all going to amount to a steaming pile of horseshit.

Fuck. Alex felt like his life was falling apart. How was he going to go to college without his high school diploma? How the fuck was he supposed to get as far as humanly possible from these people? 

Maria reached over and grabbed his hand.

“Hey,” she said quietly. “Everything is going to be okay.”

He nodded stiffly.

“With that, in the spirit of sportsmanship, the Heroes and Sidekicks will be paired up and compete against each other for the first tournament of the year! Best of luck to you all!”

Crickets from the Sideshits section. They had to compete _against_ their partner Hero for the first tournament. Alex began laughing.

“What?” Maria hissed.

“You told me it was going to be okay!”

“That wasn’t an _actual_ prophecy!”

The school faculty all left the big circular dais as the tournament cage bars lowered from the ceiling all around it. The tournament ring really was an amazing thing to behold, even Alex had to admit. They’d engineered the enormous cage to keep powers within the raised ring so that spectators would be safe from any of their effects.

Excited cheers erupted as the ring stage was finally assembled, and Principal Valenti came back up to the center to call up the competitors.

Alex tried as hard as he could not to get nervous before they called him up there. He knew getting tense and anxious wouldn’t help him at all when the time came. It was better to just go limp and let it happen.

He couldn’t help it, though. He held his breath as Principal Valenti pulled up her touch-pad to read off the names of the first competitors.

“We’ll start with one of our star Heroes, Liz Ortecho!” Principal Valenti called. Alex and Maria both sat up straighter. “Up against her new Sidekick partner, Jenna Cameron.” Alex could help his spike of jealousy as Jenna stood and made her way to the stage. He liked Jenna, and her sharpshooter’s eye was much better than anyone gave her credit for to land her in the Sidekick class. They could be friends, if both of them weren’t too sarcastic to ever have a real fucking conversation. Aside from Maria, Jenna was definitely the only other Sidekick Alex would ever be seen with in public. 

Alex and Maria watched with bated breath as Jenna picked up a large harpoon gun from the optional weapons stand. Liz, when she came forward from the stands, didn’t select a weapon.

As much as he sometimes railed about the way Liz had dropped them like hot potatoes the second she made Hero, Alex still watched Liz with bated breath as she climbed the stairs up to the podium, his chest tight. He knew from personal experience that Jenna could hit things exceptionally well with that harpoon gun. He had been hit himself, a time or twelve, in this same tournament ring.

“4” the holographic countdown timer read.

“3” the students began to chant along.

“2” Alex squeezed Maria’s hand tighter as hundreds of students around them all shouted.

“1” he braced himself, ready to flinch away from the sight of Liz getting maimed. All around them, the cheering reached a deafening roar.

Turns out he didn’t even need to worry a little. 

The bell rang, Jenna raised her weapon quick as a whip and shot it with deadly accuracy. Liz would’ve been hit square in the stomach, had the harpoon not frozen in mid-air half-way to her, then dropped to the ground with a dull clunk.

The entire auditorium was silent.

“I did it!” Liz yelled. Jenna just stood there.

“You must incapacitate your opponent, Miss Ortecho.” Principal Valenti called.

“Fine,” Liz huffed. She hardly moved, tossed her glossy hair over her shoulder. Alex looked back at Jenna, who had gone completely still. Eerily still. Alex squinted.

“Ice,” Maria said lowly. “She’s frozen in ice.”

Liz didn’t say anything further, just looked pointedly at Principal Valenti, then left the stage.

Sure enough, Alex could see from here that there was a sheen covering Jenna’s whole body. Liz had turned the water molecules in the air around her into ice.

She’d come a long way since their days of watching her boil a single cup of water.

His relief at Liz’s successful tournament round was short-lived. He watched a half-dozen Sidekicks go up and get easily knocked back down by the Hero in the ring until Principal Valenti stood again. Maria, who had grown relaxed next to him, suddenly grabbed his arm, nails digging into his skin, eyes fixed on the stage.

“Isobel Evans,” the principal called. Oh shit. Maria was having a premonition about this. Alex was about to go up against Isobel Evans. Shit.

Isobel Evans was one of the alien orphans that ended up here on Earth when they were children. They weren’t exactly the only extraterrestrial arrivals in the Super world, but they were the only ones at Sky High, and certainly one of the most mysterious cases in Super history.

There was a lot of long-held distaste for aliens in the human Super community, especially by Alex’s own father. He held the belief that all aliens came to Earth for malicious purposes, even the young ones, which the three orphans had been when they’d arrived.

“And…” Principal Valenti paused. “Maria DeLuca.”

Oh. Shit.

Alex watched Maria dumbly as she let go of his hand, stood up, and made her way down the bleachers to the arena ring. Isobel, ever-popular even despite the anti-alien sentiment, received massive applause as she flipped her blonde ponytail and climbed the steps to the ring.

“At your marks!” Principal Valenti shouted. “FIVE!”

“4” the counter flashed brightly across the crowd.

“3” Alex heard a ringing in his ears, as if everything else had been muted out.

“2” Alex’s heart beat fast as he watched Maria just stand there in the area.

“1” Isobel flipped her long blonde ponytail over her shoulder, as if she wasn’t in a tournament at all but like at the mall or something. 

_What a jackass,_ Alex thought as the shrill buzzer sounded throughout the auditorium, booming louder than Alex’s own heart.

All at once, Maria crumpled to the ground. Alex blinked. He couldn't believe his eyes. Maria had been standing, feet apart, fists clenched tightly as if that would do anything. Then, abruptly, collapsed on the floor.

Cheers erupted as Isobel shot a cheeky grin at the crowd. All the faculty and the Principal applauded.

Alex shot to his feet, heart thundering in his throat.

“Is she okay?” he shouted, not that anyone could hear him, or any was even listening.

He ran down the stadium stairs to get to the arena. The force-field had come down, so he quickly mounted the steps and crossed to Maria.

“Is she okay?” he said again, frantically. He looked around to see everyone still smiling and cheering.

“She’s fine,” Isobel said, still grinning, just as much to the adoring crowd as to Alex. “She’s just asleep, _dreaming sweetly._ ”

Alex clenched his teeth as he brushed Maria’s hair from her face, feeling her cool breath on his wrist when he did. She was ok.

“Here, I’ll wake her up!” Isobel said, and held her hand up to snap her fingers exaggeratedly. Maria suddenly gasped and sat up. “ _Voila_!”

Maria’s frantic eyes found Alex’s as she looked around in confusion. “Wha–?”

“You’re okay, you’re okay,” Alex tried to be reassuring as he took her hands and guided her to her feet.

“Students to clear the area, please,” Principal Valenti called to them.

“ _Fuck her, take your time,_ ” he whispered to Maria as they made their way to the stairs.

“Alex Manes,” the Principal’s imperious voice boomed again before they made it all the way. “You can stay. You’re next.”

Alex’s heart might have fully stopped in his chest. What the fuck. Alex turned in slow motion as Valenti turned to the waiting crowd with a grin as if this was all fun and games. Which, to everyone else, it might be. But they weren’t feeling their best friend trembling with fear and confusion by their side. They weren’t facing their own uncertain fate.

 _fuck fuck fuck fuck fucking fuck_ Alex chanted to himself.

“Sidekick Alex Manes here, after heroically rescuing his friend, will face,” the Principal paused for dramatic effect. It felt like a fucking eternity. “Michael Guerin!”

The audience roared like never before.

Guerin. Fuck. Another extraterrestrial Super, like Isobel. Only this guy was the one with the fucking flame hands and the most powerful telekinesis the school had ever seen.

As if to prove the point, Guerin emerged from whatever shady corner of the auditorium he’d been hiding in, and ignited his hands in a blaze of fire as he descended the stairs, a shit-eating confident grin plastered across his face, curly hair dirty and messy, oh yeah and did Alex mention the white-hot fire coming from his palms?

Alex was paired with The Flaming Shithead himself. He’d have to fight him today, right now, this moment, and if he survived it – which was dubious – he’d have to work with him for the rest of the school year.

“Alex,” Maria said lowly, squeezing his hand. Alex knew what she meant.

This was definitely, one hundred per-fucking-cent sure, the worst goddamn thing that had ever happened to him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading and coming along on this journey! All comments and feedback welcome and appreciated!
> 
> Feel free to tell me I'm crazy on tumblr too at [brightloveee](https://brightloveee.tumblr.com/)


End file.
